Dyson's books "Know What I Mean" has left me in a state of mass confusion and contradiction. While Dyson was relatively straightforward, he threw in some points that left me in a whirl of information overload. Even so, I was drawn in by two particular bits. The first was in "It's Trendy to be a Conscious MC", where Dyson speaks about Lauryn Hill. She raps in the group The Fugees, using the line "Even after all my logic and my theory/I add motherf*** so you ingnorant ****** hear me". In this line, Lauryn Hill essentially sums up hip hop as a political outlet. She can be speak brilliantly and rap brilliantly, but people won't hear her unless she appeals to mainstream hip-hop. Even as she speaks truth, she has to fight to be socially or politically conscious in her music.
Dyson also addresses the "crisis of patriarchy" in hip-hop culture. The culture is overflowing with verbal gender assault. Dyson is not only aware of this, but criticized it. Hip hop is riddled with sexism and misogyny. Women are held in high contempt and are either classified as a "ho" or as a "good sister", in Dyson's argument. There is not really a good in-between and hip-hop just continues to create a culture that is dangerous for women. This is not always how it was though. n the beginning, hip hop was not a degrading, violent outlet for men to take out on women.
Hip hop was originated as something very different from how it is now. Dyson is trying to bridge the gap between hip-hop beginnings and what people know as hip hop today. He speaks about the Black Panther type view of black culture versus how that same culture is perceived now by the younger generation. There is a huge gap between the two generations in question and the younger generation is held in a sort of contempt by the older generation. And, of course, the younger generation feels that the generations before them are not extremely outdated and their ways of dealing with things is no longer beneficial. The two generations continue to go head to head concerning what hip hop is. But the new hip hop is homophobic, has drastic violence issues, and is full to the brim with misogyny. As Dyson said, hip hop is dead. The new must die so the old, more regal hip hop can continue on. In a way, it needs to start over again and see if they can get it right this time, without the violence or misogyny.
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What else I found to be particularly interesting was Dyson's point on "artists who are obsessed with the Holy Trinity of contemporary rap - broads, booze, and bling," these artists are the ones who the masses are most likely to argue against as they glorify material possessions (Dyson, 8). By material, I also include the "broads" purely in the context of the artists viewpoint. Clearly the balance of power is off, women become second-class as the are classified in importance with "booze" and "bling."
ReplyDeleteWhat are your thoughts?
I enjoyed your post, I agree with your sentiments on how female rappers must choose whether to be socially conscious or rich.